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Re: Which religion do you follow?

My family is a rather strict Methodist christian (for a while). I was involved in Charismatic christian during my 1st year of college. Now reverted back to traditional Methodist Christian. I am not very deeply involved in the belief but I do pray for my family, friends and my community everyday

Re: Which religion do you follow?

I had a few classmates who had a rather odd religion originated from the Japan ( Ryukyuan religion???) in which they do not have a powerful entity but rather believed in the general well-being of humans and society. They both seem to be one of the most decent, down to earth and non judgmental people that I have known from my college.

Re: Which religion do you follow?

I was raised Catholic for 50 years, But for the last 8 years I haven’t followed any
religion. With all of the pedophile priest getting away with
there crimes against young boys, then they have the balls to say that
gays and lesbians, that want to be together is wrong!!!! That’s Bull Shit!!!!
(do as I say not as I do ) Religious policy, what a joke!! LOL

Re: Which religion do you follow?

Originally Posted by Scealle

I had a few classmates who had a rather odd religion originated from the Japan ( Ryukyuan religion???) in which they do not have a powerful entity but rather believed in the general well-being of humans and society. They both seem to be one of the most decent, down to earth and non judgmental people that I have known from my college.

Oh yes, I think it's usually followed by Okinawans which is why they seem to live longer...

"... You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you ..." - Colours of the Wind by Vanessa Williams

Re: Which religion do you follow?

Originally Posted by Scealle

I had a few classmates who had a rather odd religion originated from the Japan ( Ryukyuan religion???) in which they do not have a powerful entity but rather believed in the general well-being of humans and society. They both seem to be one of the most decent, down to earth and non judgmental people that I have known from my college.

Re: Which religion do you follow?

Originally Posted by Scealle

I had a few classmates who had a rather odd religion originated from the Japan ( Ryukyuan religion???) in which they do not have a powerful entity but rather believed in the general well-being of humans and society. They both seem to be one of the most decent, down to earth and non judgmental people that I have known from my college.

Re: Which religion do you follow?

Originally Posted by panda29

I was raised Catholic for 50 years, But for the last 8 years I haven’t followed any
religion. With all of the pedophile priest getting away with
there crimes against young boys, then they have the balls to say that
gays and lesbians, that want to be together is wrong!!!! That’s Bull Shit!!!!
(do as I say not as I do ) Religious policy, what a joke!! LOL

I completely agree with you. All religion is hypocritical and Catholacism is the worst by far after Islam

Re: Which religion do you follow?

I've chosen 'other'.

My parents hail from southern China and when I was growing up in Britain, we didn't practice anything that could be considered as a religion. The first time I saw any praying was when I was 12, mum had taken me to our ancestral village, and there on the first and fifteenth of each month, she prepared a boiled chicken, a slab of boiled belly pork, fruits, sweets, incense, candles, paper offerings.
She'd chant four syllable invocations to the Spirit God of the Hearth (aka Kitchen God who reports the findings to heaven), the Spirit of the Home (or Earth guardian), The Door Spirits who guarded the home and kept it safe, The Sun, the Moon, The Sky (heaven), The Bodhisattva Guanyin, we'd light two red candles on and lit three incense sticks to each, and also the to the spirits of the immediate deceased ancestors (my great-grandfather and his two wives who's house it was, my grandfather, my great-uncle and great-aunt). During the process, besides the food, drink (3 cups of wine and 1 of tea - don't ask me why) were offered, and midway, these were topped up. When the incense neared its end, there was a special phrase that thanked them for attending and for them to return to their resting places satiated. Besides these there were other spirits that were venerated, each village had their village guardian - the so called Guardian Uncle Spirit, there was also the GuanDi Temple which housed several spirits, including its own spirit of the earth, and guardian door spirits. The is the Great King spirit, as well as the Ancestral Clan Lineage temple replete with the spirits of my founding ancestors and the many generations it represented with the rows and rows of name plaques set of the 'heavenly bridges'. Each festival was like a tour of these shrines.

Then there is the twice yearly grave sweepings - coincidentally around Easter, and a couple or so weeks after the Lantern Festival, where we roam from gravesite to gravesite visiting our ancestor's graves to pay our respects.

When my grandma died in the mid eighties, we now had a gravesite to visit. My dad died 13 years ago, and my mum last year. Luckily, my parents are nearby, though gran is a half hour drive away. I cut down all the observances living in Britain to mainly the grave sweeping ones, where we honour our parents and forebears. It's kinda awkward taking food offerings into a western cemetery. In the far east, old fashioned graves were huge constructions where all the family could stand and pay our respects at once, not like the four by eight feet rectangle here. And they were located on hill sides, and almost inaccessible.

Personally, I tend to be atheist. I don't think gods exist, but I do honour my parents and ancestors for I am here because of them, and for that I am grateful.

Re: Which religion do you follow?

I have choosen 'Nonreligious/Atheist'. My parents were raised as christians (different nominations).

In 1955 and immediately after they were marriied, my parents decided to stop with being religious (as they also started to live by themself when they got married). So I was raised in a non-religious family.

Re: Which religion do you follow?

Re: Which religion do you follow?

^Agreed.

I'm not at all religious. It was not ever done overyly in my family - we didn't attend church ever - but my mother and sister claim to be mildly religious privately. I waver between atheism and agnosticism depending on my mood, and spend my time just trying to be... just a decent person, I suppose. I reckon since I spent my time in white Africa most of my morals are based on Christian values, but that's not to say non-Christians don't have comparable or similar values.

I'd be lying if I said it didn't bug me, though, not knowing how it all fits together and what actually happens. I don't have the fortitude to be quite atheist enough to merely dismiss it all outright.

Re: Which religion do you follow?

I'm Catholic. My mother also but she almost never talks about it, my father is more or less Buddhist. I bugged them to be baptized at 8 yo, I wanted to be a Christian, I had to study 2 years before I got what I wanted.
The presence of God I feel is so evident, I'm always a bit surprised (sad ?) when other people don't feel it.

Edit : for people who don't know, my avatar is a way to mock the Catholic Hierarchy It displays an evil Pope from another reality, where Avignon is still the Holy See. One of my many contradictions

Re: Which religion do you follow?

I don't believe in or follow ANY organized religion anymore. I believe that all of them have become corrupt to a greater or lesser degree. I also fail to appreciate that I need to report to a building once a week and dump money in a collection basket in order to demonstrate that I believe in a God. I also believe they should all be taxed because they have become nothing more than businesses and, in too many cases, politicizing from the pulpit. Moreover, I don't need another man standing there telling me who I'm allowed to love, who I should vote for and if I can marry if I ever chose to do so.

Re: Which religion do you follow?

Originally Posted by mitchymo

I was raised as a Church of England Christian, had a brief brush with a Charismatic Evangelical Christian church called the Jesus Army, spent much of my teens pondering the universe and then settled for Agnosticism as the most agreeable position for me.

Interesting - what was expected of you? I mean were they eager to 'draw you in' and tell you how to act?

I knew a middle-aged woman at home whose elderly parents joined 'The Brethren' in your area (I say your area but it was more like Sheffield way) anyway, this elderly couple sold of all their posessions to The Brethren, gave their entire wealth to The Brethren, and moved into a 'commune' with the rest of the followers. They all but broke off contact with their daughter. Their 'religion' was their new family.

Oh, and P.S.... to the OP....

I assume when you were religious, you attended services at the Hallgrimskirkje.

The little B&B we stayed a week in on our holiday was right beside it.

Re: Which religion do you follow?

strange phenomenon . I am not particularly young but I think I may have been one of the earlier or earliest of a trend . My background is basically WASP and I was raised in British Columbia in Canada . My parents were not particularly religious but my older brothers were christened and I think both later went to Sunday school ( before kindergarten was absorbed into the public school system it was private , mine was in theory Lutheran though there was never even a statement of this ) . My oldest brother recalled in high school daily prayers over the P.A. system . My parents and generally my family did not regularly go to church . Both marriages and funerals in our family are usually civil . I am as it happens an atheist . I say strange or certainly rare . I would group my religion with sexism and racism . Not problems to be overcome , but completely absent . I have often here and elsewhere come across people who are anti-religious , who have been victimized by organised religion , often "the nuns" at school . My unstated thought is what will truly kill organized Christianity is not agressive opposition , the church-burners , but my own sort of benevolent indifference .

Re: Which religion do you follow?

Originally Posted by Harke the Boeotarch

Is that your revenge for Christianity 'demonizing' gargoyles?

I just think it's expected of me, and I've never been one to turn down a free ride on a bandwagon.

In Gary Numan's autobiography, he says "I'd rather believe in hobbits and elves than Jesus." I quite like that quote. My favorite quote from an atheist ever was "The Bible and Christianity is just all lies and fairy tales. It's not surprising I feel that way, though. I'm a Sagittarius, and we're skeptical by nature."